Like Roses
by PsycoArsonistArtist
Summary: Vampires are hated and detested. One group tries to create peace with humans the other wishes to punish them for their wrongdoings. What could this prove for two brothers on opposite sides, especially when only one remembers their childhood? ItaSasu AU


Psyc-chan: Believe it or not, I hate writing gore. DX

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, ItaSasu would be cannon.

Like Roses

"Momma! Momma!!! I don't want to go! Momma!" the child's screams fell on deaf ears. His mother turned away from him and hugged her arms, as her youngest child was dragged away.

The tears flowed from his face. He kicked and screamed as the two men dragged him out the door. His father watched with remorse on his face. His brother watched with the same emotionless expression he always had.

He clawed at the frame of the door in a sad attempt to stay. The men simply pulled harder. Blood fell freely from his fingers as they were dragged across the wooden frame. Inevitably, he was pulled away, but one of his fingernails did not come from the wood.

He screamed in agony as his fingernail was ripped from his skin.

Tears ran slowly down his mother's face. His father's face turned pale. His brother did not react. He simply stared at the blood dripping from the wooden frame.

The sight of the dark red liquid was not new to him. The smell of iron was all to familiar to is nose. Why should it faze him? The fact that his little brother was to be killed was beside the point. The blood was what had his attention.

In a moment, a vision passed through his mind. He saw every man, woman, and child in his small village littering the ground like old newspaper. The dark liquid dripping from them. The over-powering smell of metal and warm heat from various fires filled the air. It was beautiful.

The images made his mouth water, as if he were thinking of candy. How fitting. His candy: sweet blood.

He ran his tongue softly over his teeth and dug is nails into his palms. Blood slowly rose from the crescent-shaped wounds. The sight of blood made him want to kill so very badly. His instincts were trying to take over his rational mind.

He quickly realized that he was hungry.

You see, Itachi was not of the normal villagers, as you could probably tell. He didn't know exactly what he was, but he definitely was not one of them. The hunger that grew in the pit of his stomach showed that. The craving for the blood of another explained it all.

Itachi was a vampire. He was a young one at that. The cravings were fairly new to him, and he didn't quite understand what made him as he was. After all, no one in his village were as he was.

Vampires were fairly common, though not understood. None tried to talk to mortals. They were simply known as the damned to the common folk. The common folk new them as terrible and as great fire wood.

That was what they believed. "The only good damned is a dead one." Kill or be killed they said. After all, the vampires were planning on killing them off and ruling the world or some bull shit like that.

The red eyes was how they could tell who the "damned" were. His little brother had them without even realizing it. Others had seen it before Itachi could show him how to disguise it. It figured that that would happen, seeing as though he hadn't expected Sasuke to be one as well. In the back of his mind, he wondered if there had been some vampire blood in their lineage.

His brother was the one person he didn't hate in that village. They were going to destroy him. This made him quite impatient with them. The images of trickling blood of so many teased his mind. He knew he could fulfill the image, too.

He unclenched his hands, making the blood from his palms flow easier. He had made up his mind. It was only a matter of time until they discovered him anyway. A soft laugh made it's way to his lips.

"Kill or be killed… How ironic." he muttered under his breath.

His mother turned toward him. The tears still trickled from her eyes. He knew she would have been over it by morning and spared no sympathy for her. She didn't deserve it.

"What did you say?" She demanded. Her voice almost seemed panicked. He let another soft laugh reach his lips, but this time it was bitter.

He walked quickly to his mother with one arm extended. He was too quick for his father to intervene. That was for sure. No one could stop him now.

He dug his nails deep into his own mother's neck, blood squeezing from underneath them. His long finger wrapped around a cluster of cords in her neck. He pulled them out without a second thought. Next was his father.

He held deep hatred toward his father. His father was a perfect symbol of why he wished for the village to burn. Symbolically, he ripped out his father's heart. It was beating warm in his hand before the man died of blood loss.

A satisfied smile crossed Itachi's face. This was the day that he had been waiting for, he realized. The day when he would watch his enemy's perish at his own hands. The feeling was like a high greater than any other.

He walked slowly through town, killing everyone who crossed his path. Blood soaked his clothing, hair, and skin. It was almost as if the heavens were raining blood down upon him. Every chance he got, he'd lick his fingers.

He continued walking down the road he was panting crimson to the middle of town. He forcefully made his way through the small crowd, throwing people out of his way. He had his mind on one thing, and that was keeping his brother from dying.

Panic rose around him. After all, people rarely ignore the fact that people are dying around them. They were running and screaming, which reminded him of chickens after their heads were cut off. Such pathetic creatures they were.

He almost felt bad for them. Their shrieks of terror and simple childish reactions were gave them the illusion of innocence. It almost made him feel guilty.

A different scream sounded. One entirely different from the rest of them. The scream came from his brother.

They really seemed to enjoy pissing him off. Dumb asses.

Someone had dropped a torch onto the pile of sticks that surrounded a large, wooden pole. It was the pole that Sasuke was tied to. His brother was burning.

As fast as he possibly could, which was inhumanly fast, he made his way the flames. Anger flowed from his red eyes. He ripped his brother from the heat, burning his arm in the process. It didn't matter to him, seeing as though it would heal soon anyway. Sasuke, on the other hand, was worse off. He couldn't heal yet.

He carefully picked up his baby brother, as if he would crumble into ashes if he held him to roughly. The boy's eyes were closed. Tears were dripping down his cheeks, washing away some of the soot that had made a small layer over his soft skin. There was a small amount of blood on him and a few bruises.

'That means you fought back.' Itachi thought. 'Good boy.'

"Uchiha Itachi?! You're one of those damned as well?! You were such a good child!" ranted the priest. Itachi found himself rather bored with the villagers' reactions and impatient with their ignorance. Besides, the priest was a first-class bastard. "It does not matter! All the damned will be burn for eternity in hell!"

The priest continued with his mini-sermon, which made Itachi want to throw up. The man's sickening belief in a god was eating away at the very little patients he still had.

He moved behind the priest, surprising him greatly. He glanced down at his sobbing brother once, before kicking the old man into the flames.

He watched with a glare on his face as the man screamed and writhed. The fire ate slowly away at his skin, making it bubble and burn. Itachi's face showed know sign of enjoyment of the scene, but it was there. He found it quite entertaining to watch the man burn in his ironic hell.

Soft coughing came from the small from in his arms. He looked down at his brother. Sasuke-sweet little Sasuke, looked so small and pathetic as his lungs tried to expel the smoke he had inhaled. It was sickening to see what they could do to an innocent child, so pure and beautiful.

The children he had killed were monsters. They watched their class-mate and friend hurt and crying without remorse. They were truly spawn of the devil.

He slowly walked back toward his house.

Slowly, a plan formulated in his head. You see, a while back the leader of an organization of vampires had contacted him. He had invited Itachi to the organization. He decided to take up that offer, seeing as though he really had no where else to go and knew little about himself.

He would not bring Sasuke there. That was not the kind of environment he wished his brother to grow up in. No. He had heard of a safe haven for vampires. They were the peaceful sort, quite unlike the organization he was to join. They would raise his little brother well.

In his former home, he cleaned up Sasuke, as well as himself; took a traveling cape; and saddled a horse. They were gone within twenty minutes of getting there.

He road at top speed, holding the reigns with one hand; the other was wrapped around his brother. The fact that they had not brought any luggage helped the horse move at an even quicker rate.

For Itachi, this was both good and bad. He was quite pleased at the time they were making, but, for all he knew, this could be the last time he would ever see his dear little Sasuke. His red eyes shone angrily, while his soul mourned.

This day would be the most bittersweet day in his life, and he detested it.


End file.
